Powerful Word Combinations and Not So Much

When I was coming up, Steve Martin was the comedian to which every guy was listening. (Now, my son and his friends are equally obsessed with Dane Cook). Steve Martin made us laugh just by the way he told his stories.

"Just landed the new company vehicle at the airport last night. . .

(crowd roars)

. . . yes, it's hard to land a station wagon at the airport."

His trick wasn't always the content but the word combinations he chose. A lesson learned by Dane Cook:

"Never, ever leave your shopping cart while you are in the grocery store. Someone might walk in - see your stuff. . . 'Jackpot! This is exactly the sh** that I wanted.'"

Both comics have hand picked the right words that surprise and delight us. In the Steve Martin example, he understood that a "station wagon" is much funnier than "car". Dane Cook's use of the word "jackpot" conjures up the sense that the shopper has won Mega Millions.

While most of us will never produce a comedy album, we would do well to understand the critical importance of our word combinations. Just like an audience at a comedy club, your prospect or customer responds to the words you choose to convey your message. One expert at this subject is Tom Freese, author of Question Based Selling (http://www.qbsresearch.com/).

Tom suggests that when you reach a prospect you ask,

"Did I catch you at a bad time?"

Most people will respond that you didn't catch them at a bad time because people are inherently helpful and will try to make you feel comfortable when it appears that you aren't. If the prospect responds that you did catch them at a bad time, Tom recommends that you say,

"I'm sorry about that. When would be a good time to call?"

When the prospect tells you what time to call, you have an appointment!

Word combinations in sales have been a topic for decades, of course. We all know to say, "Would you prefer black or green?" instead of saying, "Which color would you like?" Perhaps, less discussed are the word combinations that decimate your progress and leave you stranded with nowhere to go.

In my business - radio advertising - sellers will typically submit a proposal according to specifications requested by a media buyer. Then, they will call the media buyer numerous times in an effort to make sure that their proposal is included on the "buy".

Following up on proposals that we've made is a necessary and critical part of all sales. Doing it like this is the kiss of death:

"Hi Pam, it's Tim from 105.1 The Frog! How are you?"

"Fine."

"Great, great. Listen, Pam, I was calling to follow up on the proposal that I sent for the Circuit City buy."

"Okay."

"Did you get all the pages?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Okay, yeah, good. So, what do you think? Does it look okay?"

"I haven't spent much time with it but it looks okay."

"That's great. Okay, thanks a lot. Do you have any questions?"

"No."

"Okay, thanks a lot. Talk to you soon."

Sellers are always calling to follow up, or check in or touch base (or even touch bases here in the South). If possible, I would completely ban the use of all of these worthless word combinations. In our example above, the seller has made a phone call that has zero value to the recipient and has received nothing of value in exchange.

Here is another approach:

"Hi Pam, it's Tim with 105.1 The Frog!"

"Hi"

"I know you are busy working on the Circuit City buy and I am confident that you received my entire 6 page submission. The reason for the call is that since the time I sent the submission over I have discovered new information that indicates my radio station is even better for Circuit City than I thought!"

"Really?"

"Yes. It turns out that my listeners are 40% more likely than the market average to purchase at least $1,000 worth of electronics per year. Would you like me to send this research to you?"

"Please do. The client is really looking for this advertising schedule to impact their Father's Day sale and anything you have in the way of research will help us make the right decisions on whom to include on the buy."

"You got it. As you know, our promotional team spent quite a bit of time working out a specific program that ties in with the Father's Day plans of the client. Did you have any questions about how the promotion will work?"

"No. What you wrote seems pretty clear. Did we need to buy your proposed schedule in order to get the promotion or can we trim it back?"

"In order to get the full benefit of the promotion, the station requires a purchase of at least the amount I proposed."

"Okay. We should have this wrapped up in the next couple of days."

"Great! Thanks very much. Please call me with any other questions. This business is important to the station and to me personally."

"Okay. Thanks for the call."

In this instance, the seller has added value to the process by having "new information" that is relevant to the process. The buyer is interested in the information because she is trying to do the very best job for the client. The seller earned the right to have a meaningful conversation because of the research he has done on behalf of the client. As a result, he gets to include powerful word combinations about A) how his promotion ties in with the marketing objectives of the client, B) the required financial commitment and C) the importance of the business.

Regardless of the industry in which you sell there is never an appropriate time to call the prospect or buyer without bringing relevant information to their attention - whether it's new information, a clarification or a reminder of a deadline.

Don't be the person to whom Steve Martin was referring when he said,

"Some people have a way with words and others. . . .don't have way, I guess."